The present invention relates generally to cleaning tapes, and specifically to cleaning tapes for cleaning magnetic tape heads.
There are two basic types of cleaning tapes used to clean magnetic tape heads of audio cassette decks and players, video cassette recorder heads, read/write heads of computer drives, and the like. The two types of cleaning tapes are abrasive and non-abrasive. The abrasive cleaning tapes use an unpolished or uncalendared magnetic tape media or an abrasive coating on a polyester base to lap or sand debris off of a head. Abrasive tapes do not have the ability to remove loose debris from the tape head. In harsh environments where many magnetic tape heads are located, such as areas where dust, saw dust, wood chips, and other debris and particulate matter may be in the air, abrasive tapes serve only to lap, sand, or loosen debris off of the head. Carrying away of the debris from the bead is not accomplished using an abrasive cleaning tape. In areas such as a machine shop, wood shop, or any area where a magnetic tape head may be located in which the environment contains free floating particles or debris, an abrasive cleaning tape will not be able to carry debris away from the tape head. Further, abrasive cleaning tapes tend to aggressively wear the head, shortening the life span of the head.
The non-abrasive type of cleaning tape is able to carry loose debris and particles away from the tape head and tape path. Non-abrasive cleaning tapes use a non-abrasive substance as a cleaning medium. Non-abrasive cleaning media include woven or non-woven nylon, non-woven polyester, woven silk, tyvek, and the like. Non-abrasive cleaning tapes can loosen some debris from a tape head. However, non-abrasive cleaning tapes are not able to effectively loosen debris which may adhere or affix itself to the tape head, such as organic polymers, known as brown stain, and heavy deposits of debris. Over time, oxide particles and the like become affixed to the tape head, degrading performance, unless they are removed. A non-abrasive cleaning tape, while it can remove loose debris, cannot effectively loosen all debris from the head.
It would be desirable to provide a cleaning tape that could not only loosen debris from the tape head, but could also remove loose debris and particles from the tape head and path, especially the particles or debris that it has just removed from the tape head.
It would also be desirable for such a cleaning tape to not aggressively or excessively wear the head.